[Chapter 654: Stay Positive]
After waiting patiently for nearly an hour, Tina Brown practically memorized the lyrics of the same recurring rock song before the rehearsal on the runway finally came to a stop.
Kelly glanced over at the situation not far away and led three people over there. As they got closer, Kelly immediately regretted bringing Tina and the others early, because Eric was nitpicking without restraint. "The total song length is 3 minutes and 40 seconds, meaning each of you has a 17-second interval for your entrance, and the total time on the runway is 30 seconds. I'm not expecting you to be 100% accurate, but the time difference cannot exceed 5 seconds. At least five of you just now didn't meet this requirement. And Cindy, Paulina, Tyra, you three need to avoid crossing paths too much. Lessen your steps a bit. I know crossing has the best flat effect, but it just doesn't look good on television. Plus, at the fast pace of the first BGM, you guys could very easily trip. If that happens, the theme will definitely be re-recorded because of your mistakes. But I absolutely wouldn't mind airing your fall on ABC..."
Eric went on for over five minutes, turning an amazing group of perfect bodies into quail. He finally stopped and instinctively reached out his hand. Kelly rolled her eyes and handed him a bottle of water. Only then did Eric notice that Tina Brown, Caroline, and Melanie behind him looked a little unnatural.
With a neutral expression, he gave them a wait-a-moment sign. After drinking a few sips of water, he addressed the models, saying, "Okay, let's call it a morning for now. Diane, Cindy, and Tyra, you three go change your outfits, and we'll have lunch together afterward."
The models, visibly relieved, quickly scattered like birds. Eric turned and warmly hugged Tina Brown. "Tina, have you been waiting long?"
Tina Brown shook her head with a smile, "Not at all, it's just the way you work is truly impressive."
Eric shrugged, "You know my age, if I don't act a bit strict, it's hard to get these beautiful people to behave."
Tina Brown understood another reason behind Eric's strictness, but she simply smiled and left it at that. Eric then hugged Melanie Gleason again before turning to little Caroline, joking, "Caroline, you seem to have grown a little taller since I last saw you a few months ago."
Caroline's cheeks turned red as she shuffled her toes on the floor, feeling shy about admitting she was wearing little heels today. But before she knew it, Eric picked her up and lifted her like a child for a moment.
He only held her for a second before letting her stand back on the ground, smiling, "You seem a bit lighter."
Caroline wasn't opposed to Eric's embrace, but when she felt about fifty pairs of eyes on her, she blushed and didn't know how to respond. She instinctively replied to Eric's jab, "No, still 96 pounds."
As laughter erupted around her, Caroline realized her response was probably quite terrible.
"96 pounds is just right. But girls shouldn't casually share their weight similar to their age," Eric said, noticing Caroline's face redden even more, and he shot a look at Kelly.
Kelly gave Eric, who was teasing the young girl, a mild glare. She walked over and affectionately looped her arm around Caroline, saying, "Eric, you and Ms. Brown must have a lot to discuss. I'll take Caroline and Melanie to handle their onboarding paperwork."
Just as Caroline was about to leave upon seeing Eric, she lifted her face, her gaze showing slight reluctance. Eric considerately said, "I have things to do this afternoon, but can I take you and Melanie out for dinner tonight?"
Caroline instinctively nodded, then felt it wasn't quite proper and quickly lowered her head, following Kelly out of the studio.
After the three of them left, Tina Brown expressed mild surprise to Eric, saying, "It's my first time seeing a girl's emotional intelligence drop below zero in front of a male she likes."
Eric shrugged and laughed, "I get it, Tina; you're definitely not flattering me."
"But it's not a jab either. I'm just really curious. I had a great time with Caroline; she's perfect in every way," Tina Brown said, shaking her head slightly.
Meanwhile, the three Victoria's Secret models, Diane Kruger, Cindy Crawford, and Tyra Banks, came out of the dressing room as Eric had just instructed. The two of them didn't continue on that topic.
"You must recognize these two," Eric said, pointing to the long-established Cindy Crawford and Tyra Banks. After Tina Brown warmly embraced them both, he continued, "This is Miss Diane Kruger, from Germany."
Tina had noticed the fresh-faced girl during her long wait and reached out, "Hello, Diane, I'm Tina Brown. Your strut just now was very impressive."
Diane Kruger didn't know Tina Brown's recent status, but the title of editor for Vanity Fair was still very impressive to her. Surprised, she shook Tina's hand and said, "Hello, Ms. Brown. I've... I've read Vanity Fair."
Tina chuckled and said, "Sadly, I no longer work at Vanity Fair."
Diane Kruger didn't know what had happened but worried her careless remark had offended Tina, glancing at Eric with confusion.
Eric explained, "Tina is now the editor-in-chief of the Yahoo portal site, the same Yahoo from Charlie's Angels; you must know that, right?"
Diane nodded quickly, "I do. I visit that site often; the fashion information there is fantastic. Since Ms. Brown is the editor-in-chief, everything makes sense now."
Tina Brown smiled faintly, accepting Diane's compliment before asking Eric, "Didn't you say there were five spokesmodels?"
"Cristy Turlington and Linda Evangelista are doing the openings for the other two themes," Eric explained. "Today was just the preliminary rehearsal for the first theme. It's already noon; let's head to the restaurant and talk on the way."
Watching Eric and Tina Brown walk side by side, Cindy, Tyra, and Diane weren't entirely sure of Eric's intention for bringing them but they quickly followed, quietly trailing behind the two.
"Eric, I just listened to that song many times. Kelly said you wrote it; what's it called?"
"My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark. Ha, is it a little long?"
Tina chuckled lightly, saying, "It's an interesting title, but since you wrote it, I bet it's as excellent as New Divide. Why not try to get it on the charts early? That should definitely bring more attention to the Victoria's Secret show."
"Regardless of whether it's before or after the show, the focus of publicity is this grand event itself, especially for spokesmodels like Diane and the others. I don't want any of the annual show's spotlight taken by a few songs, as that wouldn't align with our planned promotional strategy. After the show, as the heat starts to wane, Firefly Records will timely promote the artists and groups that sing the BGM, extending the topic surrounding Victoria's Secret."
Tina Brown nodded, starting to understand, while the three women quietly following behind were somewhat confused. However, they felt a little excited about Eric's emphasis on them as spokesmodels. Cindy Crawford and Tyra Banks couldn't help but glance jealousy at Diane Kruger, who was specially mentioned by Eric. Despite Diane's significant improvement after months of rigorous training, achieving Eric's standard of 'commanding presence' on the runway, the others still saw her as a rookie in the modeling world. Of course, the most famous Cindy Crawford also looked down on Tyra Banks, knowing well that Tyra snagged this spokesperson position partly because Naomi Campbell, the queen of black supermodels, chose to step back.
Eric knew the rivalries in the modeling world were even worse than in Hollywood. Still, as long as these models didn't affect the production schedule of the Victoria's Secret show, he didn't care much about their rivalries.
...
"According to data collected by Ian and the team, by 1995, the number of internet users in North America is expected to reach about 25 million, and outside North America, it's likely to reach that number too. With the internet becoming globally widespread and Yahoo's powerful market performance, it can be said that the entire English-speaking internet is Yahoo's territory, which will be around 30 million users. Of course, Yahoo will consider expanding into overseas countries like Japan and South Korea at the right time. However, what we need to discuss today is how to further enhance Yahoo's influence through the Victoria's Secret show event," Eric began his serious discussion after dinner with Tina. "I remember you very successfully revived the old magazine Chatelaine with the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The rise of Vanity Fair also rode on the wave of the Reagans' fox trot dance event. So, I'm sure you have a wealth of experience in using the Victoria's Secret show event to boost Yahoo's influence, right?"
Tina Brown nodded with a smile and handed Eric a prepared proposal. "This is a preliminary plan I drafted based on the information you sent me. However, some pieces of information you provided weren't very comprehensive, so I wasn't able to go into too much detail in some areas."
Eric patiently read through the proposal. He had originally intended to explain the later developments of internet hype to Tina, but her proposal encompassed almost all aspects of future internet hype strategies. He couldn't help but admire that the wisdom of the 'old-timers' should never be underestimated.
In her proposal, Tina not only outlined how the pre-show publicity would be gradually rolled out on the portal site, but she also planned to utilize Yahoo forums for user interaction after the show, bringing the show's topics to the forefront, even drafting a plan for online voting to choose the most popular supermodel.
Noticing Eric's expression change slightly, Tina looked at him with worry and asked, "Eric, what do you think?"
"Of course, it's very detailed," Eric replied with approval, then asked, "By the way, have you discussed the technical feasibility of these plans with Ian and the team?"
"Yes, we discussed it," Tina assured with a nod. "The other items aren't too challenging. Steve's team has recently optimized the GIF image compression algorithm again. With the current average internet speed, Yahoo's webpage can load images about 20 cm wide within two seconds, and the quality is excellent. As for the voting system, I worried Steve might delay it, so I specifically had Ian oversee the development. We'll definitely be ready to launch it right after the Victoria's Secret show airs in December. Plus, if it proves effective, we can reuse that voting system for other projects."
Tina's description was very general. Though Eric hadn't seen a prototype for the voting system, he suddenly thought of another famous social media platform that rose to prominence through a voting system. However, it didn't seem like the right time for its launch, so Eric simply shook his head and suggested, pointing at the three models who had been waiting aside, "About the topics you need, you can chat with them separately later. I believe you'll be staying in Los Angeles for a few more days, so you can also find time to connect with Christy and Linda. But one thing, I hope you can grasp the tone for their press releases."
Seeing Tina nod in agreement, Eric then looked at Cindy Crawford and the two other women with a warning tone, "You all need to keep an eye on this too. I don't care how your personal lives are, but I absolutely don't want to see any nonsense about you all splashed across the tabloids before the Victoria's Secret show airs. Of course, I won't interfere with your normal dating."
Even without Eric's reminder, most of the models, who had their eyes on hooking up with some bigshot, wouldn't be spreading any embarrassing news. Cindy Crawford and Tyra Banks nodded in agreement, while Diane Kruger hesitated a bit before also nodding obediently.
*****
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